| Marieke Hardy’s memoir, You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead, was not the book I expected it to be, yet it has fast become my new favourite reading material. Through her open, honest, and witty recounts of parts of her life, from wanting to become a prostitute at age eleven, to idolising a child star and frank political writer, Hardy expresses a sense of child-like innocence about the world, her experiences, and love. As a reader you can’t help but fall in love with the person she portrays herself as on the page, because she comes across as a loveable scamp who evokes that inner child within you. Her writing is terse and the way she conveys her experiences authentic. Those who have loved passionately, lingered in the joys of youth, and drunken to excess will likely find a relatable, kindred spirit in the author and her experiences. There are one or two dark moments, as well as instances where Hardy finds herself in awkward situations she never considered she might find herself in, but overall the memoir elicits a tone of curiosity and humorous self-portrayal. Hardy’s honesty is very compelling, and we need more authors with the courage to write like this. If your sensibilities are old fashioned or you prefer “high” literature, you might want to look elsewhere. However, if you have an open mind, you want to learn more about this writer and public figure, or just want to enjoy a good memoir, I highly recommend picking up a copy. Five stars. |  |
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Don’t forget: there’s only one week left until bookings for A. R. Levett’s Mapping Your Story 12-week course close. Don’t miss out on your last chance to attend the course for under half-price at $400 WAWU members/$500 general public. A. R. Levett’s Mapping Your Story course is recommended for writers who have a completed early draft of their story that needs a lot of finessing before it fully captures your vision or for writers who have an idea and need to work it through the various development stages until they have a completed first draft. During the course, A. R. Levett guides writers through writing exercise-led workshops on better understanding your story’s premise, conflict, characters, theme, story world, symbols, plot, scenes, and dialogue. Still unsure of its worth attending? Then check out the positive feedback from participants who attended a previous version of the course: “The Mapping Your Story course really helped me order my thinking about what a story needs and where my story is going.” - Anne Forbes “The course was engaging, easy to understand, and Mr Levett is a kind teacher. It was everything my English class wasn’t: genuinely fun!”- Amy Parker “Mapping Your Story is a logical and straightforward development of a story from basic principles.” - Odile Pouliquen-Young “The course was very informative and helpful. I learnt more than I expected.” - Garry Winterton “The Mapping Your Story course cleared up a lot of story concepts.” - Katika Harris "The course has helped me turn my rough character and idea into a more fully formed plot. In particular, developing a theme, conflict, and thinking about the climax.” - Alia Bath With such praise and such a cheap price, you would be remiss to miss out of this last opportunity to further develop your story to its full potential. Remember, bookings close 6pm 25 February 2018. Place are limited. Be sure to book a place today. To book or enquire about the course, please email A. R. Levett. See the flyer below for course times and dates. Click here for the full course outline.  Hurry, there’s only 2 weeks left until bookings for A. R. Levett’s 12-week Mapping Your Story creative writing development course close. Bookings are filling up fast so make sure you reserve your spot today. To book, please email A. R. Levett. Don’t miss out on your last opportunity to undertake this $1,000 course for the special price of $400 WAWU* members / $500 General Public. That’s a discount of $600 WAWU members / $500 General Public! If you’re unsure about undertaking the full course, then why not book for the first session, Developing a Potent Story Premise, for just $40 WAWU* members / $50 General Public. Then once you see how much the full course will benefit you, you can then enrol in the full course for $360 WAWU* members / $450 General Public. Those who enrol in the full course receive a free ticket to go into the draw to win one of three vouchers for a 3,000 word Manuscript Assessment / Story Review valued at $60! One ticket will be drawn on 4 March 2018, 5 August 2018, and 2 December 2018. If you are still not convinced to enrol in the course, then read the testimonials from previous course participants here. Please be aware that due to the limited number of spaces and the need to prepare materials for each participant, walk-ins on the day will be turned away without a prior booking with A. R. Levett. Bookings essential! Bookings close 6pm 25 February 2018. Mapping Your Story is a 12-week writing exercise driven creative writing course that guides participants through developing different storytelling elements, such as conflict, character, theme, symbolism, and plot in order to flesh out and better understand your story. Each week delves deeper into the storytelling process so that by the end of the course you will know your story so well you will be able to push forward and finish writing it. The first-session, Developing a Potent Story Premise, takes you back to the core of your idea and builds it up through ten writing exercises. During the workshop, you will discover the challenges inherent in your idea and determine how to best overcome them, locate your best character, develop their story arc, map the spine of the story, discern why it’s a story only you can tell, and more. More details on each session can be found here. The course is being run at the Mattie Furphy House, Fellowship of Writers Western Australia, Swanbourne from 1.00pm - 4.00pm and the first session is being held on 4 March 2018. Please see the flyer below for course dates, times, and location. Places are filling up fast so book early to reserve your spot in this story transformational course. A. R. Levett looks forward to hearing from you. To book, please email A. R. Levett. * WAWU members include current members of FAWWA, OOTA, PCWC, WAPI, and KSP.  There are only four days left until the Special Offer to trial the first session of A. R. Levett's Mapping Your Story course for $35 WAWU Members* / $45 General Public runs out. With places filling up fast, be sure to book your place today. This Special Offer entitles a person to attend the first workshop, Developing a Potent Story Premise, for just $35 WAWU* members / $45 General Public. Once you have sampled the workshop and seen how beneficial it is for developing your story, you can choose to book in for the remaining 11 Mapping Your Story workshops and pay only $365 WAWU* members / $455 General Public. That’s great value! The workshop will be held at Mattie Furphy House on 4 March 2018 from 1pm - 4pm. Offer expires 3 February 2018. To book in for this special offer, please email A. R. Levett before 3 February 2018 and quote the code MYS3218. The Developing a Potent Premise workshop helps participants realise the full potential of their story idea, taking them back to the core idea where they can find the challenges inherent in it and find solutions to them, locate the best character, his or her main action, and determine his or her character change, and find a way to tell the story in a way only you can. Mapping Your Story is a 12-week course that runs from 4 March - 2 December 2018. Each session guides participants through different aspects of story development, from developing a premise, conflict, believable characters, story world, and an organic plot, to injecting a theme and potent symbolism, and writing powerful scenes and dialogue. Each session builds on the last, building your story in layers so you end up with a fully-realised story. For full course details, please see the Mapping Your Story page or see the flyer below for more course information. Full course bookings close 25 February 2018. * WAWU members include existing members of FAWWA, KSP, PCWC, OOTA, and WAPI.  28 January 2018 saw participants return to the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre for the fourth session of Mapping Your Novel, Creating Believable Characters. After the extended break, the group was eager to get back into learning about how to write their novel.
This fourth session focused on deepening participants’ understanding of their characters, especially the protagonist and antagonist. ‘I really enjoyed the writing exercises,’ said Odile Pouliquen-Young. ‘Going back to refine the exercises from Weaving a Strong Character Web deepened my understanding of character arc.’ Anne Forbes agreed. ‘The workshop really helped me to develop my story and refine my hero’s desire. It helped me identify a hole in my plot and the driving of the hero’s actions, so it has really helped me redefine what pushes my hero.’ Although protagonists receive most of the attention in a story, it was developing their opponents that participants found most enjoyable. ‘Villains are cool,’ said Alia Bath, ‘elaborating on their characters is fun and important.’ Four weeks into Mapping Your Novel, the group is beginning to see how the concepts introduced in the previous three session are beginning to build up their story a layer at a time. ‘The concepts are beginning to coalesce into a whole and more easily put into practice,’ said Odile. ‘I can see the value of following the workshop exercises as my writing evolves.’ Overall, participants are satisfied with both the content of the course and their evolving stories. ‘The discussions are enlightening,’ said Amy Parker. Katika Harris agreed. ‘I really enjoyed talking about what makes a character interesting.’ ‘The workshop was very informative,’ summarised Garry Winterton. ‘I’m learning more than I expected.’ A. R. Levett is running a new stream of this course, called Mapping Your Story, at the Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia from 4 March 2018 for the heavily discounted rate of $400 WAWU members/ $500 General Public. Places are limited. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to snag a bargain for what current participants are calling ‘an enjoyable and comprehensive course.’ (Amy). To book or enquire about the course, please email A. R. Levett. Unsure whether you want to commit to the full 12 weeks of A. R. Levett's Mapping Your Story course? Then book for just the first workshop, Developing a Potent Story Premise, for just $35 WAWU members / $45 General Public*. Once you have sampled the workshop and seen how beneficial it is for developing your story, you can choose to book in for the remaining 11 workshops and pay only $365 WAWU** members / $455 General Public. That’s great value! The workshop will be held at Mattie Furphy House on 4 March 2018 from 1pm - 4pm. * Offer ends 3 February 2018. To book in for this special offer, please email A. R. Levett before 3 February 2018 and quote the code MYS3218. For full course details, please see the Mapping Your Story page or see the flyer below for more course information. Course bookings close 25 February 2018. ** WAWU members include existing members of FAWWA, KSP, PCWC, OOTA, and WAPI.  |
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